How would yall help this PH?

[KingAlee]

I have two tanks a 350Gallon and a 125Gallon, that being said both are having these swings that I feel are a little much, I also just placed a CO2 scrubber from BRS on the 300. I feel like it has not done anything? It’s one of the ones that connects to the protein skimmer! I just feel the ph should not have a drop from 8.01 to like 7.74?

 

[Gone Reefin’]

Hello. Been seeing a lot of pH posts like this lately. I am seeing it with my tank also. I think it is summer related, closing up our houses to run the A/C. Kids/family home increases CO2. Not saying this is your issue or circumstance, but fits the pattern.

Either way, to answer your question, pH is going to swing regardless of what measures you use. Day/Night swing is to be expected to continue. The scrubber will shift these swings up a bit, or lessen them if you alternate scrubber with photoperiod. Looks like your chart shows you going in right direction.

 

[DylanE]

Take some of your tank water and run an air stone with fresh air for a while. If the pH doesn’t change all that much then it isn’t due to excess CO2. I just started a scrubber as well and my pH immediately jumped .2.

 

[Red_Beard]

If you can swing it, drip kalk at night, that will help offset a ton, if your tank is using enough alk/cal to be able to.

 

[bubbgee]

I had more success when using recirculating co2 scrubber. Can you set it up that way? I was able to get better performance from .1 to .2 and kept my pH above 7.8 since.

 

[KingAlee]

So looking back at this, my PH has been steadily better honestly but then has these random drops like this? Could this just be my PH probe? Or is it something with my tank?

 

[bubbgee]

Do you use AFR or carbon dose?

 

[KingAlee]

Do you use AFR or carbon dose?

I actually don’t run carbon ir anything on this tank! The only thing I run is the CO2 scrubber.

 

[bubbgee]

Not dosing anything?

 

[KingAlee]

Not dosing anything?

Nothing at all, I’m currently out of town

 

[KingAlee]

Could my CO2 media be exhausted? It’s only been on it for 4 days, it’s a 350Gallon tank with BRS universal co2 scrubber!

 

[mdrReefer]

I have two tanks a 350Gallon and a 125Gallon, that being said both are having these swings that I feel are a little much, I also just placed a CO2 scrubber from BRS on the 300. I feel like it has not done anything? It’s one of the ones that connects to the protein skimmer! I just feel the ph should not have a drop from 8.01 to like 7.74?

I found that commercial scrubbers are junk. They are too wide and let air channel through them bypassing the media. I used a 2” pipe, about 3 feet long. I put air diffusers (small holes in a pvc test cap on either end), then let the inlet hose hover over the sump water for proper moisture levels. This worked awesome and the media lasted 2-3 months on my 180gal display. Buy the 5 gal medical supply media. I tried recirculating, which really does boost the pH, but controlling the moisture was a big problem and catch basins etc could not solve it and the media would get wet. I would say that I have since removed the scrubber because my growth is too much now and about once a year I would forget to change the media etc and I would get a ph drop and alk swing that would disrupt my growth. So I decided I could live with lower PH now.

 

[bubbgee]

Could my CO2 media be exhausted? It’s only been on it for 4 days, it’s a 350Gallon tank with BRS universal co2 scrubber!

Yes when I tried a regular co2 scrubber setup, I need to replace in 2 weeks. Recirculating setup boosted higher pH and I need to replace every 6 weeks.

It also depends if the co2 media has access to moisture. It won’t work when it’s dry. It needs humid air to work. I got this to work with a moisture trap which doubled as a skimmate removal chamber

 

[KingAlee]

Yes when I tried a regular co2 scrubber setup, I need to replace in 2 weeks. Recirculating setup boosted higher pH and I need to replace every 6 weeks.

It also depends if the co2 media has access to moisture. It won’t work when it’s dry. It needs humid air to work. I got this to work with a moisture trap which doubled as a skimmate removal chamber

Shoo, I live in the Southeast; it stays humid here, lol.

 

[bubbgee]

Shoo, I live in the Southeast; it stays humid here, lol.

Try recirculating the air in the skimmer then. I was skeptical about it initially but when I set it up that way, the pH boost was amazing.